BP May Pay U.S. $25 Billion for Gulf Spill, Morgan Stanley Says

Oil giant BP will likely agree to pay the US Department of Justice $20-$25 billion next month to settle all civil and criminal charges around the Deepwater Horizon rig blast and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a leading industry analyst predicted on Thursday.

Martijn Rats, head of European oil research at Morgan Stanley said in a research note that he saw a 70-80 per cent chance that the two sides would agree a deal sometime between BP's full year results on Feb. 7, and the scheduled start of legal hearings in New Orleans on Feb. 27.